


Don't Be Worried

by morebeesthanyoucouldimagine



Series: Don't Be Afraid [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Afterlife, Ghosts, M/M, Squad Levi - Freeform, halloween fic, mentions of 104th squad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-23 09:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2542232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morebeesthanyoucouldimagine/pseuds/morebeesthanyoucouldimagine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren only had a vague memory of him. Whenever he thought of him, he got a nostalgic feeling, a warm deep comfort laced with icy regret. Whenever he tried to remember him more clearly, his memories seemed to run away from him. When he comes across a tormented and corrupted spirit, will he get the answers that he has been searching for?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Be Worried

 

Most people believed that death was the end, but there was a place that lied beyond. Once someone died, their soul left them in the form of a spirit. Like in most stories, the good spirits got their just rewards. They lived in a heavenly place called “überlegenes Reich“. They kept the form and age they had when they were their most happiest.

The other spirits didn’t have such privileges. The souls that were corrupted in anyway became disfigured. They were forced to live in “unterlegenes Reich” along with the still living humans, they had to stay there until they made up for their immoralities. No one really knew how spirits were judged. Some believed it was some kind of deity, others thought it was the weight of a heavy heart that kept the tainted spirits from leaving.

For the most part, the clean sprits looked a lot like humans. The only main difference was their flesh was very peculiar. They called it a “presence”. A spirit’s presence was almost always translucent and everyone had a unique color to theirs. No one knew exactly what determined the color of the presence. Some people supposed that it was determined by personality, others thought it was due to experiences in their human life.

Part of the reason the spirits were so happy, is that they didn’t have all of their memories. They only regained their memories when they saw another spirit that was a part of their former lives. There were very few cases when someone remembered a malevolent spirit.

Every year, the link between überlegenes Reich and unterlegenes Reich would weaken. During this time, spirits crossed over into the other realm. The spirits decided to keep the name of the day that the living had given to it, “All Hallows Eve”. Spirits could visit the other realm for roughly twelve hours, from twilight to dawn. When the first light of dawn kissed a souls’ presence, they faded from unterlegenes Reich and back to überlegenes Reich. Some spirits tried in vain to hide themselves from the sun. Sooner rather than later, they ended up going back to the other realm.

* * *

 

It took Eren some time to get used to his new form and his cloudy white presence. He found the concept of being able to walk through some things and not others perplexing, and often forgot the basics of it. This ultimately led to him tripping on stairs, accidentally walking into rooms, and bumping into other spirits. He was constantly embarrassed.

He still didn't know anything about his past life, he hadn't met anyone that sparked his memory. That is, until he was reunited with Mikasa. Like their first meeting, their reunion was abrupt and a bit awkward. Apparently, Mikasa recognized Eren immediately and tried to go talk to him. Eren hadn’t seen her and accidentally knocked her down a flight of stairs. When he saw her he remembered her and tried to go and apologize. She forgave him immediately.

While Eren appeared around the age of fifteen, Mikasa looked like she was ten. Her presence was a deep red, the same color as her scarf. She dragged him off to meet another spirit. At first Eren was anxious, but when he saw the blonde child-spirit with a sky blue presence, his nervousness melted away.  He was reunited with both of his childhood friends.

It wasn’t long before he was reintroduced to the other multicolored members of the 104th squad. He pretended to be annoyed when he met Jean again. He was the color of grass in summer. Eren cracked a joke about him being the color of “a horse’s favorite snack”. This got him a laugh from the fiery orange spirit that was Sasha. The rest of 104th squad looked like they were around the age of twelve, the exceptions being Christa and Ymir. The royal purple and stone grey spirits looked like they were in their thirties.

Eventually Eren had a reunion with some other Survey Corps members, Petra, Auruo, Erd, and Gunther. He vaguely remembered being in their squad, but a name kept echoing in his head.

_Levi._

Eren only had a vague memory of him. Whenever he thought of him, he got a nostalgic feeling, a warm deep comfort laced with icy regret. Whenever he tried to remember him more clearly, his memories seemed to run away from him. He had tried to ask others if they knew anything more about him, but no one claimed to know him.

* * *

 

It was All Hallows Eve and most of the spirits were excited to return to the unterlegenes Reich Eren, Armin, and Mikasa were all hoping to go see the Ocean again. They had gone there many times together, but it was still very fun none the less. The first time they went to the ocean Armin was dumfounded by its beauty. Mikasa loved the sea wind on her skin and the salty taste of the air. Eren was interested by the foreign looking creatures that lived there.

Eren had knew that he had been dead for at least a century. He lost count of his annual trips back to unterlegenes Reich after a hundred and seventeen. Even though he has experienced the sensation many times, Eren had yet to get used to transitioning between the two realms. He felt like he was being swallowed by Ocean waves. His vision began to blur. He closed his eyes and slowly faded from the realm.

Once Eren opened his eyes, he realized that he was lying face-first in some grass. He rolled over and looked at the stars that were just barely starting to shine.

“Hey Armin, where do you think we are?” Eren asked. He got a bit annoyed when he didn’t get a reply. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked around. Armin wasn’t there, and neither was Mikasa. Eren was alone. He stood up and walked around a bit, calling out their names. When he got no answer, he decided to go and explore on his own.

Something seemed very familiar about where he was, but Eren didn't really care too much. He continued walking until he came to a small hill. When he looked over the bluff, he saw a faint source of light. It was a small village.

Eren saw small children running and squealing with delight. They were wearing elaborate costumes, going door to door, begging for candy. Eren had heard of this tradition, but it was still very foreign to him.

 _This is called_ _“Halloween_ _”, right?_

Eren wandered through the village unnoticed. He glanced up at the sky. The moon had barely started to rise.

_I've got plenty of time._

A bright light caught Eren's attention. It was a bonfire. When he inspected it further, he saw that there were people gathered around it. They were telling tales of witches, monsters, and other Halloween creatures to their children. Eren found it endearing. One particularly caught his interest. It was a story about an angry spirit living in a nearby castle. According to the tale, anyone who entered the cursed building had never returned. Someone muttered that it was probably just a wild animal, but Eren paid them no attention. For some reason, Eren felt like he needed to go there and see for himself.

* * *

 

Eren knew that he had found the right castle when he heard the terrible screeching coming from it. Even though the castle was in ruins, it was still very apparent that it was once a beautiful and magnificent structure. The closer he got, the louder and more demonic the shrieking became. He was a bit hesitant to enter.

_Why am I even doing this again?_

The sensible part of Eren tried to get him to turn back and leave, but something inside of him was drawing him to the old, crumbling castle. He stood there for a moment, wondering whether or not he should enter the ruins. His body seemed to make its own decision, and he started walking in without thinking.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, he felt like he was in a completely different place. The disintegrating walls were replaced with strong stone ones. Nighttime had turned to day, sunlight was illuminating the corridor. Before Eren stood a woman with strawberry-blonde hair. Even though she wasn’t facing him, he recognized her.

_Petra?_

_What is she doing here?_

Eren was about to call out to her when someone else entered the room. A younger boy, he had shaggy chestnut brown hair and tanned skin. He had a handkerchief covering his mouth.

_Is that- Is that me?_

The boy took off the handkerchief and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when someone else walked into the room. Eren had no doubts about who it was.

_Levi._

The shorter man started talking, but no sound came from his chapped lips. Eren couldn’t hear what he was saying, but Petra and his past-self seemed to be able to. Eren wasn’t the best at lip-reading, but he was able to pick up a few words. Most of them had to do with cleaning. The three started to walk out of the room. He tried to call out to them, but they didn’t seem to hear him, so he reached out and tried to grasp Petra’s shoulder.

When his pellucid white hand touched her, she shivered violently. His other-self looked at her with worry, but she kept walking, following the raven-haired man out of the room. Eren tried to follow the three of them, but he was stuck in place.

The light faded and so did the memory, he was back again in the dark castle. It seed like the howling had gotten louder.

_So, was that one of my memories from when I was alive?_

_That_ _s strange, I don_ _’t think that has ever happened to me before._

Eren continued to walk down the hallway, now he was even more curious about what was howling and screeching. He stopped believing it was a wild animal long ago.

_It has to be a corrupted spirit._

_The myths must have been right!_

_I don_ _’t care who it is, I feel like I need to help them._

As he continued to walk he started to remember more and more about his previous life. It wasn’t long before Eren remembered the layout of the castle. Even with these new memories, he wasn’t sure who this “Levi” was. As he walked past a window he noticed that the moon had started to set.

 _I_ _’ve only got a few hours left._

The glass in the window was cracked and shattered. Eren could barely hear the wind whistling through the fractures over the relentless caterwaul.

 _I need to get moving if I'_ _m going to do anything._

Eren started to look through the castle more methodically. He decided to search the basement last. After inspecting the other rooms, Eren could not find the specter that was haunting the castle, but his memories were restored even more.

Eren took his time making his way to the basement. As he neared the stairs, the screeching was so loud it was hard for him to focus on anything other than the infernal noise. Regardless, Eren continued. He searched the entire dungeon, yet he did not find the source of the noise.

He started to walk up the steep stone steps, when he heard a shrill cry from behind him. He swallowed comically, and slowly turned around. The spirit was at the bottom of the stairs, an angry red glow surrounded it. Eren didn’t get a good look at it before he bolted up the stairs. He didn’t need to turn around to know that the specter was following him. He turned around a corner and saw something that he really didn’t want to see.

 _Dammit! It_ _’s a dead end._

 _If I'_ _m dead, does that mean I can'_ _t die again, or if I die, I die for good?_

As Eren was questioning his possible fate, the wraith turned around the corner. Once he got a good look at the spirit, Eren felt like he was violently thrown back into his memories.

…

_He could hear haggard breathing as he walked in, and he cautiously walked towards the stalls._

_Eren was startled as the person walked out of the stall coughing, and was even more startled when he saw that it was Corporal Levi._

…

 _“So you_ _’ve been eating a lot, and then throwing up afterwards?_ _” He thought for a moment before realizing something._ _“Kinda like a titan."_ _He thought out loud. He looked up at his superior and realized that was the wrong thing to say._

…

 _“I- I_ _’m becoming one of them._ _” Levi tried to rasp out. Eren_ _’s face was a mixture of shock and fear. Eren couldn_ _t speak, he felt like he couldn_ _’t breathe._

 _"Eren, please listen to me._ _” His voice was full of desperation._ _“If I- If I lose my mind, I want you to kill me._ _”_

_…_

_Eren was frozen in place when he saw the scene for himself.  There in the middle of the hallway lay a bloody, mutilated corpse._

_…_

_“Well, what do we do now?_  " _Moblit wondered verbally. Eren remembered Levi_   _'s_ _request from earlier._

 _“We have to kill him."_ _  
_

…

When he snapped out of it, he kept his eyes shut. There was no doubt about it, this demon was Levi. Eren choked back a sob, he didn’t know whether to be ecstatic that Levi was still around, or to be mournful because of the hell that he has probably gone through. Eren realized that Levi’s hellish shrieking had stopped. It wasn’t until he opened his eyes he had seen why. The poltergeist’s face was only inches away from his own.

Levi’s stormy silver eyes were missing, replaced by two deep gouges in his head. Blood dripped out of the holes like tears. Some strips of his flesh were stretched across his mouth and fused into the skin, acting like a make-shift muzzle. Even though his mouth was closed, some of his teeth were visible. Those teeth were awkward in proportion, they were either too large or too long to fit inside of his mouth, so they jutted out in between his lips. His onyx locks moved on their own, constantly shifting as if caught in the wind. His fingers tapered down into long black talons.

Levi’s head tilted to the side, as if he was trying to remember something. Eren took a deep breath and gathered his courage before looking deep into the place where Levi’s eyes used to be.

_It seems like he only vaguely remembers me. Maybe if I help him remember, I can help him be redeemed!_

With his new found bravery, Eren tried simply talking to him.

 _"Levi?_  " _  
_

His reaction was immediate. He started screeching and stumbled backwards. He backed himself against the wall and raised his clawed hand like he was defending himself. He was trembling like a leaf in a storm.

_Well, that was unexpected._

_Does he think I_ _’m going to attack him?_

He didn’t need to see his eyes to see that he was scared. Eren slowly walked over to him, his heart was beating like a drum. The closer he got to his former superior, the more his cries dissolved into whimpers. Eren gently grabbed the wrist that was shielding Levi from him, lowering it away from his deformed face.

Levi’s whimpers were starting to become more intelligible. They began to sound like a litany of _“I_ _’m sorry, I_ _’m so sorry_ _”._  Eren seemed to pick up on this and he felt like he had been stabbed in the chest. The last time he had seen Levi like this, he had no idea how to help him. This time, Eren knew what needed to be done, but not how to do it.

He embraced the other spirit, pulling him to his chest. With one hand, he stroked Levi’s constantly shifting hair. With his other hand, he rubbed calming circles on his back. He whispered comforting words into his ears.

“I didn’t want to.” Levi said clearly. Eren made a grunt of confusion before Levi continued. “I couldn’t help it, I didn’t want to hurt them.” Eren’s eyes widened when he realized that he was talking about what happened to the rest of the squad.

“It’s not your fault.” Eren shushed him. “Hanji proved that-”

“I don’t give a damn what Hanji did!” Levi screeched. “I could have stopped it!”

“Levi, it wasn’t-” Eren tried to say.

“Dammit Eren!” Levi attempted to roar, but his deformed mouth prevented him. He tried to push Eren off of him, but failed. “ _I_ killed them, _I_ heardtheir cries for mercy, _I_ was the one didn’t stop _myself_.”

“The man I love once said, ‘choose for yourself whichever decision you'll regret the least.’ This wasn’t your decision, you didn’t choose this.” Cracked lines appeared on Levi's skin, and the blood ran down his face like tears.  Eren thought he should go a little further. "The regret is not yours. No one blames you for what happened. It wasn't your fault. It was never your fault."

“They miss you.” Eren lied. He knew that they didn’t remember him, but once they saw him he knew that they would be glad to see him again. “So, why don’t you come back with me?” Eren wrapped one of his hands around Levi’s clawed one.

Levi didn’t know where Eren was taking him, but as long as he was with Eren, he knew he would be okay. He nodded his head slowly.

Eren couldn’t recall a time when he had been happier.

Levi had said yes.

He could finally be with him again.

Eren carefully helped Levi to his feet. The two spirits walked slowly out of the hallway. Eren didn’t really know where he was leading them. He didn’t really care where they were going, he felt like he had all the time in the world. That is, until he looked out of the nearby window. The sun was starting to rise.

 _I_ _’ve only got half an hour left._

 _I don_ _’t know if I have enough time._

“What if I lose you again?” Eren thought out loud, he had not meant to speak his worries. He looked deep into the gouges that were Levi’s eyes. Now it was Levi’s turn to comfort Eren.

“ _Don_ _’t Be Worried_.” Levi whispered in the most soothing voice he could muster. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.” Eren wasn’t completely convinced. After all, Levi probably didn’t know anything about überlegenes Reich.

The two spirits left the crumbling castle as the threads of dawn started to weave themselves into the sky. The dim light seemed almost ethereal as it began its climb into the sky. As the light touched Levi’s skin, it began to gleam. The flesh soon began to dissolve before both of their eyes. Levi started steaming like a titan’s corpse.

Eren began to panic.

 _No, I can_ _’t lose him again!_

Where Levi’s mutilated arm once was, was now a semi-opaque blue one. Orbs of silver light grew inside of his empty eye-sockets. His ebony claws began to fade.

Eren’s fears were in vain. Levi’s spirit wasn’t fading.

He was being redeemed.

The light around Levi was so bright, Eren had to look away. When Eren saw that the light was starting to dim, he turned to look at Levi’s purified spirit.

His presence was a deep, rich blue. Small specks of light twinkled in his aura. It looked like a dark night sky in the middle of an icy winter. His jet-black hair was styled in his iconic undercut and was gently flowing, like it was being blown by a gentle breeze. He was donned in a translucent Survey Corps uniform. His silver eyes were limpid and they shone with love. A broad smile stretched across his face.

Eren was sobbing. Tears of relief and happiness were like rivers streaming down his face. He finally had the love of his life back.

 

_Don_ _’t be worried._

**Author's Note:**

> I told you that it would have a happy ending.  
> I just want to say a few things:  
> I know that this story is a bit confusing, so feel free to ask any questions about it.  
> This is supposed to be a one-shot, but I'll consider making another chapter if you want.  
> If I made any typos, please tell me.  
> I want to thank all of you, I never thought that this would do so well. You guys are the best.


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